Deception's Imposture
by Accidental.Enlightenment
Summary: Tennis season is over. Fuji finds himself at a loss. In their third and final year of high school at Seishun Gakuen Senior High, there are no longer any club activities. The past is behind them, and college awaits. But Fuji needs help letting go. OC.
1. Chapter 1

Magnificent.

Fuji Syusuke couldn't help but admire the hidden imperfections behind the veneer of graceful lines and solid substance of the mask. It was even more magnificent for the fact that it changed constantly. It shifted in shape and appearance to suit the wearer like colorful ribbons that bound a lady's hair and refused to come undone, flexible and yet unyielding.

But there, that was where the imperfections lay. In that it shifted and changed. In that it adapted. In that it was human.

Surely no body else had noticed. Of course, humans are likely to ignore their own hidden flaws reflected back at them. Especially those flaws that some would consider strengths.

Sure, flexibility and adaptability was valuable to the human race, but a mask that changed so erratically was a mask that hardly did its job. Oh sure, it was beautiful, Fuji couldn't deny that. But such a mask did nothing to hide the truth from those who went through the trouble of searching for it.

Each change was linked to a corresponding change in the wearer. If she laughs this way, then she must be feeling this way. If she smiles this way, then she must be hurting this way. And if she frowns this way, then she must be hiding something.

It was truly a magnificent thing. Not a strong thing, but certainly an admirable attempt. Nobody that mattered had seen the mask for itself. Nobody at all had seen the wearer for herself, as she was behind it. A rare few even realized that the mask and the wearer were not the same at all.

Perhaps even the wearer was unaware that this beautiful veneer had attached itself to her being. Ah, but that was alright. If she didn't know yet, she'd find out soon enough.

Fuji was torn between watching from across the classroom as the beautiful mask crumbled under the inevitable stress, and actually doing something to help preserve the beauty that few could appreciate in the way he did.

In the end he could only wait and watch as bit by bit the mask slipped. It hadn't quite started to crack after all. The unbroken solidity of the mask remained. It was simply losing its elasticity. Hm, an interesting development. In Fuji's experience, masks were either stripped away or made to crumble. He'd never quite seen the kind of regenerative quality he found in this mask, where a couple deep breaths returned everything back to normal.

Not that Fuji would know much about the destruction of masks. His was always quite firmly in place. In fact, his was quite the forgiving mask. It didn't matter how suddenly he decided to remove it, it evidently returned with no trouble whatsoever. And through some magic the world still couldn't quite grasp that there was something wicked hidden behind his smiling face and good intentions.

Of course, he'd never let anyone know that part. It was quite the intricate mask, his was. One both physical and mental. The mask of smiles and cheerfully narrowed eyes, once taken down tricked the human mind into thinking that the layer beneath was all that there was left to be discovered. The good intentions he conveyed even through his vengeful actions, and the sincere open-eyed emotions he revealed at such times completely hid the truth.

Slips, perhaps, those emotions he'd revealed in such instances. But not once, not once did he let slip the true darkness that this second layer hid from view. Yes, quite the complex mask, his was. Layered and deceptive so that only he, who lived behind the walls of this illusion, knew the truth of what it hid.

Guilt. Hatred. Envy. Lust.

All the dark sides of humanity he could not show the world. No, not to this world that had been built on the deeds of his past and the words of others. If ever he revealed what he had firmly locked behind the walls of his mind, this world of his would shatter like fragile glass. And the shards would come falling down and cut him deeply. And anywhere he would walk after words would strike at him with the remains of his world, and no where, no where would there be a soul near enough or willing enough to walk across those shards to him; to reach out and help him rebuild what he had lost.

No, those people who were nearest him would be cut by the falling glass as well. And he couldn't allow that. He could never allow his loved ones to be hurt by anyone, and most of all not by himself. He would never forgive himself if the pain that struck his family and friends was caused by him.

And so he refused, absolutely refused to allow his mask to slip or crack or be torn away. He couldn't afford such a mistake. Especially not one so dangerous as that.

No, Fuji Syusuke had no experience in the loss of a mask.

He wouldn't survive such a travesty.

-

He didn't know why he was so captivated by that mask. It was flawed, of course, so it wasn't as if he wanted to learn from it. Nor was it that he was quite amused by the little things the slipping of the mask revealed. For some reason, he felt–

Guilty.

No, that was not quite the word. After all, why should he feel guilty about somebody else's mistakes? If she hadn't had the strength to maintain her little charade, then she shouldn't have tried it. In fact, if she hadn't the foresight to use a better mask, then none of this would have been a problem at all.

So obviously that was not it. He could not feel guilty for someone else's existence. It wasn't as if he'd had anything to do with her troubles anyway. His only connection to her was being in the same class for the past three years of Senior High. And if that was a crime, well then, they all deserved to be shot.

-

"Fuji-san," Fuji was surprised to find himself being addressed by the object of his speculations. "You've been spending your lunches in the classroom lately. Is something going on?"

"Not at all, Miyano-san. Our room is simply so quiet during lunch." Well, that wasn't quite the reason he was sitting there all alone, but she didn't have to know that.

"Ah, it is quiet, isn't it?" The words were spoken as if the speaker had only just realized it herself. "It's different from the other classes. Everybody in our class seems to like to visit other places for lunch."

Fuji couldn't help but think how this was true. Even the exuberant Eiji had taken to spending his lunches with Oishi or some other schoolmates nowadays. He hadn't realized that his so-called best friend hadn't been spending so much time with him anymore.

"Fuji-san's been quiet lately." He'd almost forgotten that she was standing there. "Even Eiji feels it and leaves Fuji alone."

Genuine surprise registered in Fuji's mind. He didn't even realize that his whole body had stiffened.

Was that true? Had he been more melancholy as of late that even Eiji had been driven to seek some other source of attention? He wasn't aware of any reason to have affected such a change.

"Fuji-san's been thinking too much."

Suddenly Fuji was annoyed at this girl. Who was she to be telling him ridiculous nonsense like that? Even more to his dismay, she leaned forward and looked at him at an angle.

"Even tensai are human. Don't go thinking you're better off than I am. Just you wait till it all falls to pieces. You have a choice: walk out of your self-devised trap graciously, or wait until the door slams shut, and you wish you could kick and scream your way out, only to find that you can't, because that would bring it all tumbling down."

"I'm sorry, Miyano-san," Fuji affected the most cheerful expression he could muster. "I don't know what you're talking about."

She scoffed, but instead of insisting otherwise, she straightened and looked down on him. "You play that game, Syusuke. It must be so boring though. It's not a challenge for a tensai to conquer the world, after all. It's not even that impressive. Too bad you can't play against yourself in a tennis match." She started to walk away, but stopped and looked back over her shoulder at him, flipping her hair in the process. "I just wanted to let you know that only those who've been through it will ever know what it feels like. So if you need something, I'll be around."

-

Fuji was frustrated. He wanted to hit something. She hadn't said a word about what he really was, but he felt she knew. Somehow she could see the darkness in his heart. The gall of that girl, to assume that she knew him. That she understood him! And then to look down on him and offer her help! As if he needed her!

Fuji fumed within the confines of the classroom; within the confines of his own mind. But then he smiled, bemused. There was no reason to be so upset. Wasn't she the one who was falling apart not too long ago? She really had no right to talk. After all, he was still standing, and she had already admitted defeat by talking to him. By letting him in on her little secret, she had admitted that she knew what it was like to have the world shatter around herself.

Then why, Fuji's smile faltered. Why did it unsettle him so?

-

_You play that game, Syusuke. _

For some reason, he couldn't help but listen to those words echoing back at him. Or rather, it was the words that had gone unsaid that bothered him the most. How much did she know? What would she do about it? Would she use it against him?

_Even tensai are human._

Fuji was confused. He'd thought, surely that all the illusions that surrounded him, this tangled web of lies, would have protected him. Where had he gone wrong?

He was haunted by these thoughts. These thoughts that somebody had seen through him and could potentially tear down everything he had worked to maintain. He would see her there, talking with their classmates, laughing and smiling the same way she always did.

No, in a more genuine way. He couldn't tell for sure anymore, but she had changed. Whether or not she was still wearing her mask, or perhaps, more to the point, what the reactions of her mask meant, suddenly wasn't so easy to see. He'd thought he'd had her all figured out. But he'd been watching the mask for so long, he hadn't realized that the wearer and the mask possessed the same visage.

Now she would look at him with those knowing eyes and greet him with words that at face value held no malice. But he knew those words carried an undercurrent of threat. She knew him, she knew his secrets, and she wasn't about to let him forget it.

-

The classroom emptied once again. This time, however, Fuji didn't allow himself to be swept away by his thoughts.

She was cleaning the blackboard for the next class. She was always doing things like that. Little things that nobody else wanted to do. Things that nobody wanted to wait for somebody else to do.

And so of course they were alone. It seemed to him she must have planned it that way. But there was no way she could have planned what happened next.

He waited until she finished up the black board and put the eraser down. Then he cornered her by putting his hand on the board, his arm at eyelevel. She turned and almost walked into him, obviously startled. He leaned forward and smirked.

"Don't look so surprised. You knew I was still here didn't you?" He couldn't help but be amused at how she couldn't seem to decide what to do. It took her quite a bit just to look into his eyes.

"Fuji-san, what do you think you're doing?"

"Tsk, tsk. That was my line," he admonished her. "You've been up to something."

She raised an eyebrow, showing no regret for having been caught. "You seem to be imagining things, Fuji-san."

Fuji's heart skipped a beat. She's just said the words that he'd been thinking to himself. That perhaps he was going insane and simply imagining things. Surely this girl couldn't be out to get him like he thought. He hadn't done anything blatantly wrong, and especially not against her.

"No, I'm not imagining anything. It's you. You want something from me, don't you?"

Her eyes drifted over his shoulder in a far-off way before sliding back towards him. "You'd like to think that, wouldn't you? That I'm trying to blackmail you into something. That you've got something that I'd want so badly as to stoop to that level."

He felt his smirk slipping. He'd thought surely that must have been it, for her to be tormenting him this way.

"Have you figured it out yet?"

Fuji almost pulled away, but refused to give up his upper hand by letting her go.

"You're going insane, Syusuke. You think you have the upper hand, but do you really? Your family and friends aren't the only ones who've been fooled by that mask. Every time you look in the mirror –even you can't see your true self. You've surrounded yourself with illusions, Syusuke. So many illusions that even you can't tell what is real and what isn't anymore. Do I really want something from you? Or do you merely think of yourself as so high and mighty that there isn't anything that I can do for you?"

He was so caught by this revelation that he didn't even back away as she stepped closer to him. What could she possibly do for him? There was nothing he needed, nothing he wanted, just to go back to pretending that everything was at its natural state. That's all he really wanted. He didn't want to think about any of this anymore, just to go back to impressing the masses and laughing with his friends.

But that wasn't what would happen, was it? He'd already started to push his friends away. Something had been set into motion that he suddenly didn't have the ability to stop. They'd be going off to college soon. They'd be going separate ways. Things would never be the same again.

She leaned forward and murmured into his ear, "Stop thinking about them. What about yourself? Where are you going? What do you want to do with your life? Forget them for now. Figure out what you want first, then you can make arrangements with them."

For some reason, he couldn't quite reconcile himself to that suggestion. It wasn't as if his whole life revolved around his friends, but it wasn't as if he didn't want to be around them either. He was very reluctant to walk a different path than his friends.

But then, Fuji noticed something that had been staring him in the face for a long time. And the realization was like being dowsed by bucket of ice cold water. He hadn't really been pushing his friends away at all; they'd been pulled away by new interests.

Girls.

Fuji looked down at the girl he'd been watching almost obsessively for the past month or so. She'd stepped back to give him space to think, and now, looking into her eyes, he could not find an ounce of malice in them.

She seemed to be patiently waiting for something. Waiting for him to come to his senses and realize that he hadn't quite been doing anything wrong. Just that he hadn't quite been doing anything right either. He'd been sitting at his desk much too much, pondering things he couldn't change and ignoring things he could.

Somehow, he had been fooled by his own illusions. He'd spent so much time being the perfect son, the perfect student; he'd forgotten that there came a time when gently rejecting the girls who showered confessions and other such gifts on him was no longer necessary. Especially now that the tennis season was over, it was no longer necessary to concentrate all his efforts into school and tennis. Everybody else had started courting the girls that had previously been courting them, and suddenly Fuji was the only one who'd managed to avoid falling in love.

It seemed so absolutely tempting. This girl he had leaned up against the wall was so close. She was just standing there begging him to do something. No fear, no girly giggles, merely a set of knowing eyes and an eyebrow raised in challenge.

Fuji leaned forward and forgot all his inhibitions. All he could think now was how she didn't lean in to meet him with eagerness, but didn't try to hide in fear either. Then he forgot even those details as he brought his lips to meet hers.

He didn't care anymore.

Not about being caught. Not about not having asked permission. Not even about how she'd haunted his thoughts so much recently. All he knew was the sensation of her soft lips on his, and the way her eyes closed as she leaned into the kiss just enough to say she didn't mind, but not so much to repulse him.

He brought his arm down from the chalk board and placed his hand on her waist, using it to pull her closer. Then he brought it up to play with her hair as their kiss ended.

"I think I've figured it out now," he whispered into her ear.

She opened her eyes and looked at him askance. "Have you really? You've only been really thinking about it for such a short time. Have you figured it out? All of it?"

She was taunting him. This didn't upset him too much though. It only drove him to continue on this new path he'd set foot on. After all, it was true; he hadn't spent too much time exploring this new idea at all.

They kissed again. This time, she responded more readily. Or rather, more playfully. To Fuji's chagrin he realized that she was more experienced in this area than he was. But then, hadn't he already known that?

After all, hadn't he been watching her like a hawk for the duration of her deterioration into something recognizable, and yet completely different? She wasn't just some silly girl who'd been in over her head playing a game she wasn't skilled enough to play, she was a girl who'd apparently had more understanding of the game than he had assumed was possible.

As their lips parted this time, she offered a sly smile, stopping his lips with a finger when he would have tried for another kiss.

"No, you haven't quite got it. You think you do, but it's not that simple." She kissed her own finger where it lay on his lips before stepping back. Her finger caressed his lips as it slid away from him, taunting him, of course. Her eyes twinkled as she smiled. "You'll have to earn the next one, Syusuke."

* * *

**- **The only question is: can I write the next one?


	2. Chapter 2

_You'll have to earn the next one, Syusuke._

Fuji smiled. It was seductive, the way she used his name. Of course he'd have to earn the next one. It wasn't as if he expected to just kiss her silly and have her in the palm of his hands.

_No, you haven't quite got it._

Okay, so maybe there'd been that naïve bit of hope, but still, he'd known it was unrealistic. Even if at one point he'd had girls practically throwing themselves at his feet, he had managed to choose the one girl who had absolutely no reason to do so.

_You think you do, but it's not that simple._

That girl, she was much too smart. She had more experience in these matters than he did, after all. She'd been through more.

In fact, Fuji realized, she was older than he was. Which was rare, even if, in a sense, he'd only had four birthdays to speak of. Not many of his classmates had birthdays before the last non-existent day of February, after all.

Ah, his birthday. Some people had superstitions about being born on the leap day. Fuji didn't know whether he believed any of them or not, but certainly his parents had run through a few when he was younger, something about being unlucky or immature or something of the sort. Of course, there were the positive theories too, especially the one he'd cultivated about it making him special. Well, he hadn't quite cultivated it per se. He hadn't so much as spoken about it since he'd heard it, but he had certainly played off it.

Then again, didn't he play off of a lot of things? In fact, he was still playing off of his past deeds and reputation as being a tennis _tensai_. Fuji couldn't help but wonder how much the rumors had added to or even facilitated his victories over his opponents. Certainly it had been quite devastating to that one character who'd thought he'd figured out all of his weak points. Fuji couldn't quite remember the fellow's name, but he did remember that the bastard had used Yuuta shamelessly, giving his precious younger brother a move that could have permanently injured him.

Of course, the whole charade had been planned out as soon as he'd found out what that bastard had done. Such circumstances couldn't have been accidental, after all. But that was about the extent of the malice anybody seemed to see in him, and even then, of course, they brushed it off because he had done it for the sake of his brother. Some even seemed to have forgotten the incident entirely.

That unsettled Fuji. It was as if nobody in the world could keep a grip on what the real him was like. They weren't even capable of hanging onto the clues. The evidence just slipped right passed them. Like their eyes slid off of his mask and looked at what they wanted to see, instead of really looking at him. They were looking at their own illusions. It was as if his mask had a reflective quality, a strange quality that didn't just reflect images, but the wishes, hopes, and expectations of the viewer.

Or maybe it wasn't his mask doing it at all. Maybe it was this glass world he was living in. Somehow, he'd trapped all the people he knew in this glass maze of his. Some were trying to reach him, wandering in that maze that was his existence. Some were just on the edge, a long distance away, just trying to get a peak at him in passing interest. And in the center of it all was Fuji. Fuji who was completely stationary as the rest of the world relative to himself moved without him.

She'd been right. It wasn't quite as simple as he'd thought.

And what about her? Where was she relative to this glass maze of his? Somehow, Fuji really didn't know. She couldn't possibly be _in_ the maze, because his world shattering certainly wasn't going to cut her the way it would his family and friends. But she wasn't one of those other people only taking a cursory glance at him on their way to live their lives in ignorance.

No, she was something else. Perhaps, she'd stopped a safe distance away and was watching him in amusement. Laughing at him even.

Fuji couldn't think of any other reason why she'd have stopped to take a look. She certainly wasn't going out her way to see him, except for that one time she had confronted him about staying in the classroom during lunch. Maybe it was just that she understood his situation, so that when she did stop to look at him, she seemed to look right through the tinted glass of his maze and straight to his soul.

No one had ever done that before. And quite frankly, it unnerved him. It made him feel vulnerable, knowing that she could see the wicked darkness that he was capable of. And for some reason he felt the need to hide his true self from her the most.

What frustrated him the most, of course, was that even after having such a frightening affect on him, she could turn away and behave so innocently. For all that she was not quite the same as before, and for all that he couldn't even tell if she was wearing a mask anymore or not, she was still hiding something. She knew what he was, so why didn't she tell anybody? What was she waiting for? She had the power to ask anything of him, and instead of asking for something, she'd taunted him instead.

What's more, despite all her taunts, she could continue to talk to her friends like she didn't know a thing. Like there wasn't something wrong with him. Like- Like she didn't even care.

He hated it.

He hated that she could walk away so easily while he was still trapped in this glass world of his. Hated watching the world pass him by. Hated watching her walk right passed him.

He'd been watching her. She had been just like him, hiding her true self behind illusions. Smiles that hid malice, laughter that hid pain. So much like him, he felt he understood her well. Yet she understood him so much that it scared him. And yet, despite all those illusions and fakery, she was free now, and he wasn't. He watched as she laughed with her friends, not even sparing him a thought, for all that she knew the situation he was in. He watched her from inside his intricate glass maze, and he felt that she was well and truly free.

And he wanted that.

-

"Syusuke," Fuji was surprised to hear her voice whisper his name. The classroom had emptied ten minutes ago, and with the rest of his classmates, she had been carried away by those friends of hers. Great, that was the last thing he needed, more proof that he was going insane.

A feminine chuckle and he felt hands slide over his shoulders and down his chest. A weight leaned itself against his head and shoulder blades, telling him that he wasn't just hearing things. He instinctively supported the weight by pushing back on it.

"Syusuke." Her voice played with the pronunciation of his name and dragged out the first syllable in a coaxing tone. He'd have almost described it as whining, but that wasn't it at all. Her quiet and calm tone told him she was trying to get something out of him, but that she didn't really care either way. Like she'd said before, he had no right to think he had anything she wanted.

Fuji swallowed audibly. He felt her tighten her hold on him.

"Syusuke, you must be so lonely, sitting here all by yourself." She nudged the side of his face with her own. He relaxed his body to take in the feeling of her being so close, only to open his eyes as she gradually lessened the warm embrace.

His brief feeling of disappointment vanished, however, as she moved to stand beside his desk, smiling warmly down at him.

"Not anymore, I'm not." Fuji realized the truth of his words only as he spoke them, feeling as if she had filled a void that he hadn't known existed. It seemed, to Fuji's utter annoyance, that as of late he'd been encountering an abundance of new things he didn't know existed before.

Her smile took on an ironic twist, showing her appreciation for his implied compliment. "Have you eaten lunch yet?" She'd obviously noted that he'd been just sitting there. Perhaps he really ought to start taking out a book to at least have the appearance of doing something. After all, woolgathering wasn't the impression he was out to make on others.

"You haven't, have you. You don't even want to eat." It was a statement, not a question. She put her hand behind his head and leaned in to kiss him on the forehead. "I'll make you lunch tomorrow." Her fingers ran through his hair as she brought it back to her side.

Fuji smiled. That was completely unnecessary. But he appreciated her concern. It meant that he was worth something at least.

"Don't waste your effort on me."

She smiled and shook her head. "Well, if you're that afraid of my cooking, I'll consider being merciful. In any case, you won't be sitting here alone tomorrow, understand?" She raised an eyebrow pointedly, indicating her disapproval of his self-imposed isolation.

"I guess you'll just have to join me then." Fuji smirked.

This time, she laughed, setting her eyes a sparkle. "We'll see, Syusuke. We'll see." With that, she gave him one final kiss on the cheek and left him alone in the empty classroom once again.

Strangely enough, he didn't feel lonely at all.

-

Syusuke restrained himself from sighing. When Miyano Yuuzuki had told him that he wouldn't be spending lunch alone today, she'd been right. Just- not in the sense he had hoped.

Fuji turned his head and watched as Eiji devoured his food enthusiastically.

This was not how he had wanted to spend his lunch.

Apparently Eiji's girlfriend, Kanami June, had earned her way into an art contest and was now displaying her art at the Tokyo Convention Center. Oishi was studying for college entrance exams with Kokawa, so Eiji had opted to keep Fuji company instead. But for some reason, despite having looked forward to lunch all day, Fuji now found that he couldn't wait for lunch to be over.

"Na, Fujiko-chan! Isn't June-chan so amazing? She said she wasn't even done with that one! But sensei submitted it anyway!" Eiji was boasting between bites. His eyes shone brightly. And well they should. The picture was, after all, a charcoal sketch of him on the tennis courts, mid-acrobatic play.

Despite his recently melancholy isolation, Fuji felt that Eiji's presence was suddenly an intrusion. He may have been surprised at the idea that his melancholy mood had driven Eiji from his side, but now that he was back, Fuji felt- smothered.

"Of course," Eiji continued on his own, swallowing a mouthful of rice. For the first time, Fuji found his best friend's eating habits rather distasteful, especially while Fuji felt that Eiji's presence at all was an intrusion on his personal space. "She made sure to finish it before the actual judging. She still hasn't let me see it though."

Well, Fuji thought as he averted his gaze, at least he didn't have to do the talking. Eiji seemed perfectly happy to talk enough for the both of them.

Despite Kanami's refusal to favor Eiji with a preview of her work, Eiji was unperturbed. After school he was going straight to the convention center to see for himself. Fuji forced a smile and responded appropriately while Eiji expressed his excitement about being able to see Kanami later.

Suddenly, Fuji couldn't wait for Kanami to come back and take Eiji away.

-

Walking home after school, Fuji found himself warily watching for his former teammates. Eiji had already rushed off to meet Kanami, so Fuji was quite alone. Instead of regret, however, he felt an unusual sense of relief. The oppressive atmosphere he had been feeling since lunch was gone now, and he could breath easily again.

It seemed that after all that time spent without Eiji's presence, Fuji had grown used to the solitude. And now, he rather preferred the quiet. It was so much easier to think without having to socialize as well.

After that lunch with Eiji, Fuji came to realize that he didn't want to spend lunches with his old friends anymore. Somehow, their friendship seemed superficial. In fact, if it weren't for the tennis club, Fuji realized, he probably wouldn't have made friends with them at all.

It seemed to him that his relationship with the tennis club had only been as a tennis _tensai_, and not as a person at all. Only Tezuka and Echizen were able to see past his reputation and meet him as equals. The others, like Eiji and Kawamura, who for some reason chose to address him as 'Fujiko-chan' –Fuji now realized that he had been determinedly overlooking the nickname- only saw him as the _tensai_ with the amazing tenipuri counters and the fearful fascination with extremely flavored food.

To them, like to the rest of the world, he was Fuji Syusuke, the _tensai no tenisu_. He was a figure to be revered for his talent, a person to be feared for his sense of justice, and not at all a boy who just wanted his loved ones to be happy.

That was the point, wasn't it? He did well in school for his parents. He played tennis for his brother. And he smiled for his friends. It was all to make others happy.

Wasn't that all he had ever wanted?

And yet, despite that, it hadn't been enough. Somehow, in his quest to please, he'd managed to hurt one of the people he'd wanted to please the most. Poor Yuuta. He hadn't meant to cast the boy in shadow. He'd just been so caught up in all the praise that he didn't realize how much his fame had oppressed his younger brother.

There was nothing to be done though. Even if he had wanted to, there was no way he could take back his actions. No way of convincing the public that he wasn't the _tensai_ they'd made him out to be. What was done is done. He had no other choice but to continue to live under this label of his.

And poor Yuuta. After he had moved out, Syusuke found that the only thing he could do for his brother was to smile kindly and coax him into coming home every once and a while. It was no use trying to talk him out of transferring to St. Rudolph. The _tensai_ claims were not unfounded, after all.

Fuji wasn't stupid. He knew for certain that leaving was the best thing for Yuuta. If Yuuta hadn't left Seigaku, he'd have been smothered by Syusuke's shadow. Even Syusuke had heard the way people had referred to Yuuta as 'Fuji's younger brother'.

So while Syusuke wasn't happy that Yuuta was living away from home, he made no attempts at changing the situation. Nothing he could do now would make the situation any better. All he could do was mark a goal for Yuuta to chase after.

There was nothing that he could do.

There was nothing that hurt him more.

-

"Mo, daijoubu, Fuji-san."

Syusuke was startled out of his thoughts not only by her sudden appearance beside him, but by her words as well. "Ah― Miyano-san…"

She smiled cheerfully up at him, giggling at his surprised expression.

"You'll be alright," she smiled innocently. "I promise."

* * *

-Apparently, I was missed. So since I had this sitting around, despite the extent to which I glared at it over the past year, here it is. The third chapter isn't completed yet, so don't expect anything for yet another long while. It gets more OC-centric from here. And unfortunately, I'll be shifting in and out of Fuji's perspective. I'm trying my best to develop characterization skills, so please bear with me!


End file.
